WASHINGTON – The U.S. Global Change Research Program asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to review a draft of the Climate Science Special Report (CSSR) – a technical document intended to provide an updated, detailed analysis of how climate is changing across the U.S., and to serve as a technical input to the Fourth National Climate Assessment. A new National Academies report concludes that the draft CSSR is timely, accurate, and well-written, representing the breadth of available literature relating to the current state of the science.

To strengthen the impact of the draft CSSR, the study committee that conducted the review and wrote the report recommended increasing the distinction between recent advancements in the science and long-understood aspects of the climate system, adding quantitative statements to the key findings, and expanding the discussion of specific topic areas to more fully reflect the literature, among other recommendations.

The National Academies report states that the draft CSSR provides a valuable update on the state of science by synthesizing recent manifestations of continued climate change, discussing several of the most recent advancements in climate science, and focusing on physical climate changes specific to the U.S.